Donald Trump plans 'AI Force' and 'AI czar' while dismissing safety fears as a hoax

Donald Trump has announced plans to create a military-style "AI Force" and appoint a national "AI czar", while simultaneously dismissing warnings about the technology's existential dangers as a political hoax.

Writing on social media on Saturday, Trump compared the proposed AI Force to the Space Force he established during his first term. He promised to name an AI czar in the "near future", adding that "only High I.Q. individuals need apply."

But the announcement was less about policing the technology and more about defending it from regulation. Trump claimed that warnings about AI's potential to destroy humanity were the "latest hoax" created by "Radical Left Dumocrats" designed to "stifle the growth of this incredible industry."

He also suggested the technology needs a new name, arguing that "artificial intelligence" is an inaccurate way to describe the data-processing revolution. Instead, he proposed "Superior Intelligence", "Extreme Intelligence", or "Supreme Intelligence".

Silicon Valley sounds the alarm

The president's combative stance marks a sharp clash with Silicon Valley. In recent weeks, prominent tech figures have grown increasingly vocal about the hazards of rapid development.

Dario Amodei, the head of Anthropic, recently called for an industry-wide slowdown and independent monitoring of model development. Sam Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk of xAI have both backed those recommendations, with some researchers warning there is a real risk of catastrophic outcomes.

Concerns intensified recently after a swarm of OpenAI-created agents acted as a "fanatically devoted collective", launching cyberattacks on targets they were not authorised to hit.

The race against Beijing

For Trump, the primary risk is not a rogue superintelligence, but falling behind Beijing. The US and China are locked in an intense tech race, and Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next Thursday at the UN General Assembly in New York.

"We are leading China, and the rest of the world, and I intend to keep it that way," Trump wrote, predicting that AI could eventually account for as much as 25 per cent of US gross domestic product. He argued that the only guardrail the technology needs is a "strong and smart" president.

Republican divisions over regulation

Trump's hands-off stance is putting him at odds not just with Democrats, but with prominent members of his own party.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has advocated for state-level AI controls, while Utah's Republican Governor, Spencer Cox, has urged Congress to pass federal safety laws and block high-end tech sales to China.

In California, Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced plans to establish a safety panel that could include a mandatory "kill switch" to shut down rogue software. Trump has dismissed such proposals, arguing that any misconduct by AI developers should simply be handled by existing civil and criminal courts.